Page 59 of Wild Side
At that, I pale.
Money. I knew he had it. But not like this.
“Oh god.”
“What?”
“We didn’t sign a prenup. You have stuff. I have… a restaurant.”
His smile is grim as he offers me one terse nod. “I know. I would never, though.”
I’m blaming the wine for the way my heart pitter-patters as he stares down at me. This big, brutal man who holds Milo with such gentleness, who turned his successful life upside down in ways I didn’t comprehend until now.
A man I barely know has put it all on the line to keep my nephew with me.
We don’t address the enormity of what he’s done, and I’m struck by the realization that Rhys is not who I thought he was, in more ways than one. It’s not just his job; it’s the type of human he is.
His soul—it’s a good one. And I don’t want to be another leech. I can’t promise him that I won’t crack some jokes about this, but…
I lift my pinky finger between us as I stare back at him. “I pinky promise that no matter what happens, I will never take anything that’s yours.”
His eyes bounce between mine, a nervous glint to them. “You know these aren’t legally binding, right?”
I swallow, transported back to the day he told me that exact thing. “Yeah, but only a total asshole breaks a pinky promise.”
He regards me for several beats, then he lifts his finger and repeats my words back to me. “I pinky promise that no matter what happens, I will never take anything that’s yours.”
We shake. And his expression is just as sincere as it was when we spoke our wedding vows.
CHAPTER 22
RHYS
I wake up a married man.Sleeping alone in an unfinished basement with a hand wrapped around my dick and the memory of slipping my fingers down my wife’s dress playing on an infinite loop in my mind.
I come upstairs feeling on edge about what the day will hold—feeling vulnerable after Tabitha went digging through my life with such ease last night.
But when I step into the kitchen, nothing is different.
Even though fall has started to make its way into the valley and there’s a nip in the air, Tabitha sits outside with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, sipping a cup of coffee. Normally, I’d retreat to the living room with my coffee and scroll my phone, check my emails, or do anything I could to avoid her, but today feels different. Strangely, I don’t feel like I need to hide from her this morning.
Whether it’s the comforting warmth of the gold wrapped around my ring finger or morbid curiosity about what’s going through Tabitha’s head after last night, I decide to pour myself a mug of steaming caffeine and join her.
But not before I’m almost tripped by the goddamn cat.
Prow, prow, prow.
She makes that little noise with each step as she comes prancing toward me and practically launches herself at my legs like she’s excited to see me. She doesn’t even care that the feeling isn’t mutual.
“Hi, cat,” I grumble, before stepping around her and reaching for the back door. She follows me outside, and I don’t stop her.
Tabitha turns. “Rhys! Don’t let Cleo out!”
“Why?”
“She could run away.”
“That’s the dream,” I mumble.
